Jay Conrad Levinson (February 10, 1933 – October 10, 2013) was an American business writer, known as author of the 1984 book ''Guerrilla Marketing''. He was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, raised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, graduated from the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Colorado Denver, and the U ...

. His studies in Psychology led him to advertising agencies, including a Directorship at

Leo Burnett Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He was responsible for creating some of advertising's most well-known characters and campaigns of the 20th cen ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he served as Creative Director. Returning to the US, he joined J. Walter Thompson (now known as JWT) as Senior Vice President. Jay created and taught

guerrilla marketing Guerrilla marketing is an Advertising, advertisement strategy in which a company uses surprise and/or unconventional interactions in order to promote a Product (business), product or Service (business), service. It is a type of publicity. The ...

for ten years at the extension division of the

University of California in Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

Work

As an advertisement agency executive some notable

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

campaigns and achievements Levinson collaboratively developed include the

Marlboro Man The Marlboro Man is a figure that was used in tobacco advertising campaigns for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by advertising executive ...

, the

Pillsbury Doughboy Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising mascot for the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2005 (together with some for GEICO between 2009 and 2017) ende ...

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois (with a Northbrook, Illinois address) since 2022. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993, but was still pa ...

's good hands, United Airlines “Fly the friendly skies” slogan, the Sears Diehard battery, Morris the Cat,

Tony the Tiger Tony the Tiger is the advertising cartoon anthropomorphic tiger mascot for Frosted Flakes (also known as Frosties) breakfast cereal, appearing on its packaging and advertising. After the original Kellogg's, Kellogg Company spun off its North Am ...

, and the

Jolly Green Giant Green Giant and Le Sueur (spelled Le Sieur in Canada) are brands of frozen and canned vegetables owned by B&G Foods. The company's mascot is the Jolly Green Giant. Company and brand history The Minnesota Valley Canning Company was founded ...

. He was the founder of the international Guerrilla Marketing Association, coach and specialist author of many books on the subject of guerilla marketing, which have appeared in many languages. The first to use the term "

" describing 'unconventional' marketing tools used in cases when financial or other resources are limited or non-existent. His first book ''Guerrilla Marketing'' was published in 1984 and has been named by

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

as one of the top 25 best business books, with over 21 million sold. His guerrilla concepts have influenced marketing so much that his books appear in 62

languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

and are required reading in

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

programs worldwide.

Selected publications

Books: * Levinson, Jay Conrad. ''Guerrilla Marketing Excellence: The 50 Golden Rules for Small-business Success'', 1993. * Levinson, Jay Conrad. ''The guerrilla marketing handbook'', 1994. * Levinson, Jay Conrad. ''Guerrilla marketing: Secrets for making big profits from your small business''. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998.

References

External links

Jay Levinson's Official Guerrilla Marketing Site

Jay Levinson's Guerrilla Social Media Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levinson, Jay Conrad 1933 births 2013 deaths Writers from Detroit American business writers University of Colorado Boulder alumni